Turn with me, if you will, to
Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. I was thinking on what to preach
this week, and of course, the Christmas day was on my mind.
Scott asked me last night if I knew what I was going to preach
this morning, and I told him I don't. And I said, but it's
going to be something to do with the death of Christ. He said,
I think you've got the wrong holiday. But why was he born? Pete asked
that question. Why was he born? This is a passage
in Philippians chapter 2 that in context teaches believers
humility. We'll begin, we'll just read
through here, beginning in verse 1. Paul says to the saints at
Philippi, he says, if there be therefore any consolation in
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies, our Lord's consolation when he
walked this earth as the servant of God was his father. The love that his father had
toward him that he had for his father. He was girded about,
his bowels were girded about with mercy and truth. And He
fulfilled the will of God. Verse 2 says, Fulfill you my
joy that you be like-minded, having the same love of one accord
and of one mind. Our Savior was like-minded with
the Father. He had the same love of one accord
and of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory. Our Lord didn't strive. He didn't
strive with anybody. He didn't seek His own glory. But in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves. And that's what he
did. He esteemed the Father and His
brethren better than himself. Verse 4 says, Look not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. What he did, he did. for the glory of God and the
good of others. And then we come to verse 5,
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, In being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Now, when I was reading this,
a phrase caught my attention and I want to point it out to
you. And it's the title of our message
this morning. Wherefore God also. It's in verse 9. Wherefore God
also. hath highly exalted Him, and
given Him a name which is above every name." There's something
about that word also that struck my attention when I read it.
Wherefore tells us that everything that comes before is why God also hath highly exalted
Him. That is to say, everything that
comes before verse 9 teaches us that the reason Christ came
into this world was to highly exalt the name of God. That's why He was born. To highly
exalt His name. And this passage declares the
way in which Christ highly exalted the name of God. Our Lord accomplished
His Father's will in a way that no sinner could have conceived
in our minds. We'd never even thought this
up. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, he
said, it's a stumbling block to the Jews. It's a stumbling
block to a man who's seeking salvation by the law. And it's
foolishness to the Greeks. It's foolishness to the philosophers
and wise men of the world. the way in which Christ exalted
the name of His Father. I want to look at three things
here. First, I want to ask the question, who is this babe born
in Bethlehem? And then I want to ask, what
did He do? What did He do? And how does
God the Father regard what He did? Well, first of all, in verse
6 here, it tells us, that this one, being in the form of God,
this is before he condescended to come to this place where we
live, he was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God. That is to say, there's nothing
to be grasped at for him to be equal with God, for he is God's
equal. Now, this one is the second person
in the Holy Trinity, God the Son. There are others who didn't
think it was robbery to try to be equal with God. Isaiah tells us, speaking by
the inspiration of the Spirit of God, tells us that the King
of Babylon, who really is Satan fallen from glory himself, He
says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken
the nations? Because thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I'll ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I'll be like the Most High. yet
thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit."
The Lord told his apostles, I saw Satan fall from heaven. He was
an angel created by God. And he said, I'll exalt myself
and I'll be as the most high God. And then he comes to Eve in the
garden. And he takes God's word in Genesis
chapter 3 and verse 4. And a serpent said unto the woman,
Ye shall not surely die. If you eat of this fruit, you
won't die. For God doth know that in the
day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. You'll be like the
Most High God. Surely that wouldn't be a bad
thing. God knows this. That's why He told you not to
eat of this fruit. That was God's law. He said, in the day that
you eat thereof. He didn't take Him by surprise.
In the day that you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. But this
one who would exalt himself and try to rob God of His glory,
tells Eve, you won't die. You'll be as God. That's the
lie. That's the great lie. That's
the lie that false religion has always told. You can do something. You don't have to listen to God's
word. You don't have to obey God. Don't
you want to be like God? And in Genesis 3, 6 it says,
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that
it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, to make one like God, she took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he
did eat. And the result was the eyes of
them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And
they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And
when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
Did it make them wise? It made them run from God. It was a lie. They disobeyed
God. That first Adam, our first representative,
disobeyed God. And when he died, it resulted
in spiritual death. When man tried to rob God, just
as Satan tried to rob God, he was cast out of God's presence. And everybody born after him
is born with that same nature. born wanting to be God, born
wanting to rob God of His glory, born disobeying God in the name
of obeying God. That's what we all are by nature.
But this one born in Bethlehem truly has, was, and has always
been equal with God, one with God, the second person in the
Trinity. But verse 7 tells us in our text,
he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men. Now, would you have ever conceived
in your mind that God's holy name would be exalted by somebody making themselves
of no reputation and taking upon them the form of a servant and
being made in the likeness of men? Formed in the lowest parts of
the earth in a womb for nine months, he grew. born in a cow
stable, no reputation, brought up by a carpenter, despised,
rejected, no reputation, the form of a servant, made like
men, but make no mistake now, this one is God in human flesh,
the God-man. In Matthew 1.20 we saw last week
that the Lord said to Joseph, the angel of the Lord said to
Joseph, that which is conceived in Mary is of the Holy Ghost. Now we've come to something new. A second representative. One
that's not born of Adam's corrupted seed. One that's born of the
Holy Ghost. You know why he had to be born
of a virgin? Because if he's born just by
natural generation, like every other child is born, he'd be
conceived in sin. This one had to be born of God, of the Holy Ghost. And he said,
and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus. Why are we going to call him Jesus? Why is his name going
to be called Savior? Listen to this now. No doubt
about this. Listen to this. For he shall
save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us." Luke said when he was born, this
is what we saw last week, when he was born, the angel's herald
was this, Under you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord. He is Christ the Lord. This is
the one, as our brother just read, who broke the yoke of the
burden that was upon his people, who took the staff off of their
shoulder and the rod of their oppressor, as in the day of Midian. You remember when Gideon conquered? You know how he did it? Just
this little band of nobodies? They did it by blowing a trumpet.
in breaking some earthen vessels. You know how God conquers? He
does it by the sound of preaching of His name, His holy name, and
He breaks earthen vessels like you and me. He comes to where
we are and shatters our hearts in pieces. He's the warrior. He's the one whose garments are
rolled in blood. He's the one who accomplished
the warfare by what men saw as just a noise of confusion. And the government's on His shoulders.
The government of this world, of God's providence, the government
of God Almighty, Making a people just before him and putting away
their sin the government He upholds the world by the word of his
power The government's on his shoulder
This one was God is God But when the fullness of time was come
God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law why? to buy, to make a purchase, them
that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. When you read these words, like
in our text here, and you read that every name should bow to
Him and confess that He's Lord, and you read something like Galatians
4.4 there where it says that we might receive the adoption
of sons, that don't mean there's a possibility. That means it's
going to happen. His name's Jesus, for He shall
save His people. So at the appointed time, He
made Himself of no reputation, and He took upon Him the form
of a servant. He was made in the likeness of
men. And we all behold this baby, and we all rejoice at a certain
time of the year in this child being born. But that's not where
the story ends. That's not the end of it. If
He's a priest on earth, can we just see that? If He's a priest
on earth, it won't do us any good. That's not where the story
ends. What's it going to take to exalt
the name of the Most High God? What's it going to take to accomplish
the will of the triune God in the eternal counsel of grace? What did He do? What did He do?
That's the second thing. What did He do? Look here in
verse 8. and being found in fashion as
a man. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The first
Adam, who was man and not God, transgressed God's law and plunged
those he represented into spiritual death. The second Adam, who is
both God and man, humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. There's a difference between
our two representatives, isn't there? We're either found in
one of them, one or the other. We're either in Adam or we're
in Christ, one of the two. One of the two. Look over at
Romans 5, verse 19. Romans 5, 19. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered, why? Why did God give the law? That
the offense might abound. What offense? Our offense toward
God. Our transgression that we are
toward holy God. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more bound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Look over at Romans 8.3. For what the law could not do.
Something wrong with the law? Something wrong with God's law?
No. It's holy and just and good. The fault, the problem doesn't
lie in any gift from God. Here's where the problem is,
in that it was weak through the flesh. That means me and you
couldn't keep it. We broke it in Adam and we fell. God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, by a sacrifice for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the
law, here's that word again, might be fulfilled in us who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. That word might
doesn't mean there's a possibility. He did it so that His righteousness
shall be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit. That's why this One came. That's why this One was born
in Bethlehem. That's why He was born. His life was one of perfect obedience
under the holy law of God. This is the second Adam. Listen.
Every man born in Adam is conceived in sin. His conception was not
of corruptible seed, but of the Holy Spirit. He's conceived holy. That thing which is in you is
called that holy thing, the angel of the Lord said. We come forth
from our mother's womb speaking lies. There was no guile found
in him. None. We clean up the outside
of the cup and we compare ourselves with other worms to fool ourselves
and anybody else that'll look at us into thinking that we're
righteous. But such a high priest became us who's holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. It wasn't the night that was
holy. It was him that was born that night that was holy. Man's
natural enmity against God boasts of man's will. We, in our nature,
want to boast of our will. Well, I believe man has a free
will! Free to your nature? You've got a free will. You've
got a free will. And it's bound to do exactly
what your nature is. Exactly what your nature is.
If it's of natural generation, born of Adam, dead in trespassing
and sins, enmity against God, then we'll crucify God, crucify
the Lord of glory, calling on the name of God and get Him down
off the cross before the Sabbath day comes so we don't break the
law. That's the best we got to offer in ourselves. That's it. This one, he didn't come boasting
of his will. You know what he came saying?
How contrary is this to what we hear? Man argues over... I'll tell you something that
occurred to me last night. It's not the responsibility of
man that people are arguing over when they reject this message.
That's not what it is at all. That's not what they're arguing
over. Responsibility of man. Coming to the defense and saying,
well, man's responsible. That's not it at all. We want to be God. We want to have a part in
salvation. We want by nature to be as gods. This one who came and made himself
of no reputation, he said, I came not to do mine own will, but
the will of Him that sent me. That's a little bit different
from religious men and women I hear speaking today. But this is the one who made
himself of no reputation. We're the ones in our nature,
no matter how religious and how zealous we are, we're the ones
that'll puff up and try to make ourselves somebody in front of
everybody and boast of our will, the weakest thing we ever have. My pastor one time asked, he
said, the next time you're out working on a shed or something,
you're working with a hammer and a nail and you bang the end
of your finger with that nail, will it just stop hurting? Will
it to stop hurting? It won't stop hurting. Our will is the weakest thing
we have. The weakest thing we have. God must make His people
willing in the day of His power. And when He does that, faith
is as natural to one that's joined to the righteous vine as apples
are on an apple tree. They don't strain to produce
it. We're one with Him. We have His faithfulness given
to us to where we can believe on Him, rejoice in Him, repent
from dead works, and serve the living God. Sinners pretend to
obey God's holy law. Pretend to. Talk about it. Get folks to look at one another
and say, Look what we've done, and whip one another, and why
haven't you done, obeyed the law, and you're not living up
to the standard. Do I live up to the standard?
Do you live up to the standard? The standard is this one whom
God said He appointed a day in which He'll judge this world
in righteousness by that man. There's the standard. except your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will let no
wise enter into the kingdom of God." This one is righteous. He's the
standard. He's the standard. You've heard
me make this illustration before. When He died at the cross, judgment
was poured out. And if you're in that atom, that
second atom, Justice is satisfied towards you. It's satisfied towards
you. The law has no more claim on
a man that's dead. There's no police officers walking
around in graveyards today trying to bring up some crime that some
dead man committed. They're free from the law. They're
free from it. And everybody that died in Christ
is free from the law. They're free from it. And when
God comes and reveals it by His grace and gives us a new heart,
we're born of regeneration, of incorruptible seed, made a new
creation in Christ Jesus. And we behold that He is all
our righteousness, we no longer cling to that death. We no longer look at it because
we realize when He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried.
And when He rose, I rose. And when He sat down, I sat down.
And when God said, well done to Him, He said, well done to
me. I can't add anything to it. I
can't take anything away from it. You know why? Because God
didn't choose me based on anything good or bad in me. And when judgment
was poured out on Him, His people were made righteous in Him. And
in that day when God will judge the world in righteousness, He's
going to take all of our worst sins we've ever committed and
put them on this side of the scale. And He's going to take
all the best sin, best good deeds we've ever done, and He's going
to put them on the same side of the scale. And on the other
side is going to be the Lord of glory, righteousness Himself. And in that day, He's going to
judge the world in righteousness by that man. And we're either going to be
found in Adam, or we're going to be found in Christ. Let me
move on here. Obedient, even unto the death
of the cross. Who'd He die for? I'll tell you
who He died for. And you can just examine yourself
and see, does this apply to you? He died for ungodly sinners,
dead in trespasses and in sins, who hate God, who said, we'll
not have this man reign over us. That's who He died for. When
we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. This One didn't come and make
Himself of no reputation and take upon Him the form of a servant
and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,
for people who loved Him. He did it for people that hated
Him. You ever hated God? Well, I've always loved God.
He didn't die for you. He died for those that hated
Him. I hated God. Can you admit that? You hated
God before He came and took down that middle wall? Gave you a
heart of flesh? We plunged a crown of thorns
on His head. We mocked Him. We spat upon Him.
And somebody says, well, I didn't do that. People argue, who crucified
Him? The Jews or the Gentiles? Man
did. And that's exactly what I did
all the days of my rebellion. I crowned him with thorns. I
mocked him. I spit upon him. I said I'll
have nothing to do with him. Religion? Oh yes, I'll have everything
to do with religion. But I don't believe it's that
narrow. It's that narrow. It's that narrow. But the cross includes much more
than the unrighteous wrath man poured out on him. It includes
the judgment he endured in place of a people for God's righteous
justice. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, he hath
made him sin for us. That's substitution. That's taking
the place of somebody. who knew no sin. If He's going
to be the spotless Lamb, He's got to be spotless. This One
who came and made Himself of no reputation proved that He
was righteous thoroughly. And He went to the cross and
He's made sin in the place of His people that we might, there's
that word again, be made the righteousness of God in Him. And God said, Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I'll turn my hand upon the little
ones. I'll gather my sheep because
of this one that I've smitten. Because I've smitten him in their
place, I'll gather my sheep. Every one of them. I'll gather
them. None of them will be lost. No
man will pluck them out of my hand. Nobody can separate my
love from these little ones that I've loved everlastingly. Can't
do it. Because God loved them in Christ. And Christ paid the price. He
came and paid what you and I could never pay. He did what you and
I'll never do. We get this notion that we're
somehow walking a little better, you know, we're going to do something
nice for somebody and we start helping people out and things
like that, thinking we're really righteous and progressing, you
know, a lot along the way. And then somebody cuts us off
at a red light. And we kill them in our heart.
We kill them in our heart. We pull out a gun and shoot them
in our heart. That's what we do. This one right here came and
died for ungodly sinners that railed on him and spit upon him
and nailed him to a tree. And he bore the wrath of God
in the room instead of his people. And he satisfied justice. He bore the stroke of God's justice
until the law said, I'm satisfied. When he laid down his life, the
law said, it's done. In fact, he said, it's done. He said, it's finished. It's
finished. And when he rose, that same people
rose in him. Now, if your son did that, Art,
if your son did that, you wouldn't stand for somebody else's glory
and try to share in your glory, the glory of your great name.
You would say, no, my son did this. He's going to have the
glory for it. And I'm going to save everyone for whom he died.
I'm going to pour out my spirit upon them, every one of them,
because I love my son. I love what he did and I'm going
to save him. I'm going to give them a new
heart so they know me and love me and know the love with which
I've loved them. What an honor what glory his
death on the cross brought to the name of God. This is God
providing himself a lamb To declare I say at this time his righteousness
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus Worse boasting then it's excluded by what law of
works. No, but by the law of faith Therefore
we conclude a man's justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. I Faith is a wonderful thing. It's a wonderful thing. By faith we establish the law
of God. Why? Because the One on whom
the object of our faith is the One who established God's law.
He made it honorable. And He did it on behalf of His
people and we established it in Him. Here's what scripture says he
did. What did he accomplish? He purged our sins. He brought
many sons unto glory. He destroyed him that had the
power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
He made reconciliation for the sins of the people. The law made
nothing perfect, but the bringing of a better hope did, by the
which we draw nigh to God. By His own blood He entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. Once in the end of the world
has He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
We're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once and for all. By one offering He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. All these things are in the past
tense. They're all in the past tense. He's the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Well, thirdly, how does God regard
the obedience and faithfulness of this just one? And there is
just one. It's just one. Verse 9, Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him. This making Himself of no reputation,
and taking upon Him the form of a servant, and becoming obedient
under the law of God, even unto the death of the cross. You know
how God regarded that? As highly exalting His name. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name. that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. He said, sit thou at my right
hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. He said he'll
send the rod of his strength out of Zion and rule in the midst
of his enemies. and the people will be made willing
in the day of His power." That's what we're missing. We're missing
preachers preaching about His power. Men make it out to be that God
comes and He gives you an ability in the new birth, being born
again, and then you take that then and then you make the decision.
You're going to accept Him or you're going to reject Him. and no possibility. When God
makes somebody willing, He makes them willing. Adam made us willing
to sin against God and call it obeying the law. Christ makes
us willing to trust Christ and thus fulfill the law of God. It's not an option. It's not
a choice. And that's what men hate. That's what men hate by
nature. Because I want to be as God.
I want to make myself of a grand reputation. I don't want to take
the form of a servant. I don't want to humble myself. If God ever lays his hand on
us, we will. We will. Servant's not greater
than his Lord. He's going to bring us down.
And we're going to see Him. We're going to bow before Him.
We're going to bow before Him. Are you trying to make yourself
equal with God? Are you exalting yourself by
pretending to obey Him? All you've got to do is do it
in all your deeds, in all your words, and in all your thoughts.
That's it. Every one of them. Past, present,
future. You've got it licked. If there
had been a law given which could have given life, righteousness
would have been no law. Let me give you kids a word of
advice. Just take it, think about it. That song, what's that song that
says, Little Lord Jesus? Don't ever sing that song. Don't
ever sing that song. He's not little Lord Jesus. That's
an oxymoron, little and Lord. They can't exist side by side. He's Lord. He's Lord. Nothing little about it. He was
Lord when He was in that manger. He was Lord when He was on that
cross. And He's Lord seated at the right hand of God right now.
He's Lord. And whether we confess it now
or not, we're all going to bow. We're all going to bow and confess
it. Every one of us here. That's one thing I know for certain
about everybody in this room. We're going to all bow and say,
He Lord. He's Lord. Well, I pray that
He'll give us grace to submit unto Him, who is the righteousness
of God. Not go about in our own ignorance
trying to establish our own righteousness, but submit to Him. Say with Paul,
I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. And I don't frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. Dead in vain. And Paul ends this
right here in verse 12. Let this mind be in you which
was in Christ our Lord. He says, Wherefore, my beloved,
Brethren you who trust him and know him as he have always obeyed That's a good that's good as
you have always obeyed When I obey if and when have I always obeyed
I Always have in my Lord Ever since God put me in Him, I always
obeyed Him. But believers obey Him, don't
they? Believers trust Him. And as you've always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. That's who that one is that we're
celebrating Tuesday. That's who He is. He's Lord. He's Christ. He's not wanting
to do something. He's Lord and He's Christ. And
He shall And He shall make His people righteous, save His people
from their sins, bring them to God, holy, undefiled, without
sin, without spot, without blemish, because He's triumphant. If I said anything today, that offended you, I'm thankful. I'm very thankful. Because maybe, just maybe, it's
the beginning of the inner workings of God's grace in your heart
to at least arouse you to some kind of reaction, to be offended. And if I've said anything today
that gave you any hope in yourself, outside of Christ, I apologize,
because that wasn't my intention. And I hope this message will
be a blessing to you, and I hope the Lord will use it. And when
you give those gifts on Tuesday to somebody, when you give it to them, one, think of this, are you offering
it to them? Are you giving it to them? And
secondly, are they mulling it over whether they'll accept it?
Or do they look at it and go, it's free. I'll take it. Thank
you. Thank you. This thing's not an
offer. It's a gift. And to those who
recognize it by God's grace, they don't have to be persuaded.
They just say, thank you. It's free. Alright.